


The Depths of Self-Delusion

by Nxcht



Series: The Price Of Companionship [1]
Category: Alan Wake (Video Game), Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Original Character Works - Fandom
Genre: Alan Wake- American Nightmare, Alan Wake- American Nightmare Verse, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Crossover, Drowning-Implication, Hair-pulling, Implied/Referenced Torture, Killing, Mr.Scratch ( Alan Wake ), Night Springs, Night Springs- Verse, Non-Consensual Touching, Nxcht, Original Character(s), Other, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:14:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24392638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nxcht/pseuds/Nxcht
Summary: Mr.Scratch needs time to fill between his countless encounters with The Champion Of Light. He finds this but not in a way that he would expect.
Series: The Price Of Companionship [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761352
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	The Depths of Self-Delusion

**Author's Note:**

> Based on an AU a friend and I have written previously. They're a dynamic I can't seem to get out of my head. 
> 
> I plan to make this a series for as long as I can think of ways to torment my poor character (s)? And I can still manage to channel Mr.Scratchs' terrible ways. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

The sounds of hair snapping, separating from scalp under the pressure of the Herald’s fingers, locks of thick raven hair wrapped impossibly tight around his strong fingers. Scratch was beyond pleasantries and out of patience. He wanted to let loose, let his inhibitions run unabated. _Au Natural_. The unfortunate victim to this release? His go-to, his plaything. Merris.

The girl was impossible _\- stupidly-_ trusting! Even as they sat, having a seemingly nice chat full of false compliments and cold-comforts, she finds herself yanked violently off of her chair.  
He wanted action, _he wanted blood._

  
Scratch was all for a game of tag and gut but this one required... _Special attention._

Merris mentioned that she had lost a friend to a lake when they were kids. Terrible story, really but it was all he needed to try a little experiment of his own. They were in his domain now. Not even the Champion himself could ruin this for him.

( He did have to see how his double was fairing, eventually. )  
  
If there was anyone Scratch loved to see endure his torment the most, it was Alan.

Merris didn’t come quietly, of course, why would she?  
Holding onto walls, the metal leg of a bed frame, she didn’t make anything easy for him.  
Then again, the Herald wasn’t trying as much as he could. He was preoccupied with savouring Merris’ audible but vain struggling. He was almost too curious to know what it was she thought she could do to save herself. Merris must have known what he must have been hinting at by now, right?

Merris thrashed as much as she was able to, with Scratch’s grip still solid on her hair. She had to do something. If it meant that she’d be missing a clump or two, that she’d manage to get free from him long enough to reach safety-to reach Alan, it was worth it. Bastard. He was loving this. What made him think that she was going to give him the satisfaction of an easy hunt? She had locked eyes with him long enough to communicate her resentment.

Scratch reacted in kind, giving her a few more forceful pulls at the female’s hair. If she thought she could get a chance of freedom with him, she was more deranged than she had seemed. No one truly had ‘freedom’ with the Herald. It was a false game, another show before his eventual distaste for the whole thing.  
The action in question, however, was momentarily consuming in itself, another jolt to the flow of the female’s lucid thoughts. Merris was consumed by the emotions, the plaything a little easier to handle now that she was distracted. This would all be too easy, wouldn’t it?  
There was a wide grin on the double’s face, so clear in fact, he wondered if he could be enjoying this any less. The show that Merris portrayed was tantalizing in its emotion and She played it so well.

Dragging her until she was up against the tub, the Herald dropped the feeble girl like a sack of potatoes. One last glimpse.

He already made plans in this sick orchestration- and one-sided entertainment. The stage was set, the environment was prepped. Everything was perfect. A rusted-out hull of a tub, clearly showing its age and stagnant water that clung to the vessel in its time-evident brine. It would have been a sick sight to witness for anyone else but Merris wouldn’t have that luxury, at least not for too long. Too bad.

Scratch had to take a moment, really take it all in. Each of his pursuits was like poetry in motion, too fleeting from their execution to their eventual end. Each one was different, special in this.  
Sitting on the tub, Scratch rolled up his sleeves in a feudal attempt to keep himself clean of the disgusting fluids. Human and otherwise. Merris, on the other hand, she looked pathetic as always, huddled there, shaking and crying with a few curses thrown in for good measure.

Then another wonderful thought occurred to the shadow-double, the video camera! What better way to preserve an event like this? As his cool eyes glazed around the small bathroom, it was then he realized with the mild disappointment of the fragility of electronics. The video camera was lost in the struggle upon his pet’s misbehaviour, Alas... this was going to be for his eyes only.

Feeling like he gave Merris enough time to regret her life choices, the Herald dug his fingers into the soft yet cold, clammy skin of her jaw and effortlessly raised the female to meet his menacing stare. It was easy to see his elation in her eyes, red and puffy from the tears. Did she have any fight still left in her? It would be disappointing, if she decided to give in now, surely? What was more tragic was allowing the man to have his fun, it would be too easy.

All too easily his hand slipped from Merris’ jaw to around the flesh of her neck, digging his fingers into her until he could hear the muted struggle of the other as she gasped for breath. By now she did at least attempt to pry the other off but didn’t she know it wouldn’t work? Her hands were weaker already from fighting the impossible.

_“You know... “_

Scratch paused then,

“I was so... moved by that story you told me? Truly. And how you said, ‘despite your best efforts, you couldn’t save her’? _Did you even try? Hmm._ No. you don’t seem like the type. _Spineless little worm_... I wonder..Who do you think is going to go out of their way to save someone like _you_ , anyway? How decent of me to at least let you feel what it’s like?”

The excitement was palpable in the Herald’s voice, the apparent flicker of terror in the other’s eyes before he forced Merris under the dirty bathwater. He pressed her head, hard against the tub’s surface, bone against porcelain before the fight renewed in Merris once again.

It was too late now, however, Scratch wasn’t going to let the other come up for air no matter how hard she fought. How long would it take for a human to succumb to water forcefully, arbitrarily entering their lungs? He honestly didn’t know... Or care all that much. Best not to get caught up in too many details.

Soon, as predicted, their ill-fated night would start again...cursed fates destined to cross over one another for an unforeseeable future. At least, there would be plenty of other things to try? No? After all, this was his world, a safe-haven in the dark.


End file.
